The Star and the Rose
by gabthegreat
Summary: Set right after the fortune cup.Yusei has a certain duelist on his mind. When he finds out she's in trouble, can he come to terms with his emotions and rescue her. YuseixAki, slight JackxMina.


**A/N:Please note before reading, that the i'm gonna be changing some elements from the main storyline, the most notable will be a change to the signers birthmarks,Yusei will have the the dragon's head instead of the tail, which will be moved to Luna instead of the right claw, the reasons for this will be explained in another fic im working on. I apologise if this gets a little confusing 4 NEone. **

**please enjoy...**

The Star and The Rose

It was near midnight, the place: an apartement in the Tops building, the person: Yusei Fudo Duel king of Neo Domino City, gazing off into the distance thinking, brooding on something - or rather _someone._Someone he had been thinking about since their match in the fortune cup, but had been too preocupied with a certain rival to dwell on it 4 very long, that person was: Aki Izayoi.

He was so deep in thought he didn't notice the door creaking open and someone's footsteps toward his room...

"It's little late to be pondering your next move Yusei, even for you," stated a voice from behind him.

A little startled, but with enough self control to not show it, he turned to see none other than his former rival and predecessor to his title: Jack Atlas. Their friendship had been through alot in the past two years, but still, that didn't stop Yusei from dropping by the hospital after the fortune cup...

...NEO DOMINO HOSPITAL, ABOUT TWO MONTHS EARLIER...

"Well Mr. Atlas, aside from a few bruised ribs and a sprained wrist, you seem to be alright," said the nurse who was checking his stats "if you'd like, I could fill in the paperwork and you'll be out of here in no time," she added. Jack's assistant, Mina, who for some time now had been bringing out strange new emotions within him, was about to answer when he cut her off.

"I'd appreciate that, thanks," was all he answered, pretending not to notice Mina's eyes widen at the sight of him being polite. Up until now she only saw the smug side of his personality, even with Goodwin, so he wasn't surprised at her reaction, but lately he had noticed that things were different about him now, ever since Yusei preached him after his loss at the fortune cup...

That memory seemed to punch something inside of him and he felt an all to familier pang of another new emotion he had: Guilt.

Once the nurse excused herself and left, Jack rested his head back on the pillow of the hospital bed.

"Mina," he asked "could you leave for a few minutes? I've got some things I need to think about," she looked at him with concern in her eyes.

"Is everything alright sir?" she asked

"Yeah like I said, I've got a few things to consider, and I think better if their are no distractions around," he felt another pang of guilt when he saw her expression, he guessed she took the word "distractions" the wrong way, but before he could correct himself though, she excused herself and left like he asked.

_Damn, _he thought, _I'll have to fix that later,_

As he lied back on his bed, he thought back to his time in the satellite, and the friends he betrayed. The friends that had on more then one occasion said that they'd be there for eachother through thick and thin, and how did he repay them? By taking the only hopes they had of escaping the sattelite for himself! And why? For some selfish, impatient scheme for Glory! Stardust dragon and that runner were meant for the whole group of them! Their ticket to freedom! And his stupid ego had ruined it all for them!

_And, _he realized _it cost me a bit too,_ he hadn't noticed at the time, but a part of him missed them, more then that, had regretted leaving them behind, He sighed at that realization.

_Well Jack, _he thought,_ you went and tried to go for the glory and how did that end up? A career cut short and fans who forget you as soon as the newbie comes along, and to top it all off, _he concluded with a grimace, _you've lost your best friend. Congradulations! Your the world's biggest jerk!_

No sooner had he thought those words did he hear the door open. At first, he thought it was Mina coming back in to check on him, boy was he for a surprise! At the door stood Mina alright, but she wasn't alone, the nurse was there too and someone behind them he couldn't quite make out.

"Mister Atlas sir, it seems you have a visitor," she was speaking a little nervously, and as she moved aside to let him in Jack could see why, at the door was none other then Yusei Fudo!

" I was going to verify if you would approve of this," Mina explained "I wasn't sure if i'd have to have the hospital file in another patient..." she trailed off and Jack realized he had been staring.

"N-no! Don't worry we'll be fine," he said once he'd composed himself, W_hat could Yusei possibly want here!? _he wondered.

Once the women had left to ensure their privacy, it took a moment for the two of them to get over the awkwardness in the air but eventually Yusei finnaly found himself a chair and sat down, his expression blank. They were silent for a moment, finally Jack spoke up.

"So here you have it kid, the amazing Jack Atlas finnally put in his place, must feel pretty good seeing your worst enemy getting what he deserves," that was the only reason Jack could think of why Yusei could be here, for all he knew the new king didn't want anything to do with him anymore. But to his surprise, Yusei chuckled. Not in a smug way, just amused.

"You always were quick to jump to conclusions, Jack. I'm not here to rub it in. Your pride's been battered enough," his answer caught the former king by surprise..._again_.

"Then what the hell are you doing here!?" he demanded, this time Yusei appeared serious this time Jack felt another pang of guilt when he thought he'd hurt him again, but quickly dispelled it.

"I came to make sure you were alright, that was quite the fall you took. Why? Is it a new law for people not to visit their friends when the're seriously hurt?"

This time jack openly expressed his surprise, he nearly dropped the glass of water he was drinking,"friend?" he barely said in a whisper, Yusei still considered him his friend? After everything that happend between them, after everything he'd done? Yusei seemed to read his expression, because smirking, he added,

"I can't say I wasn't a little angry when you took off like that, but i got over it a long time ago, I got Stardust back and a duel runner, so there's no real reason to stay upset, although i dnt really care about this title, especially with the paparazzi breathing down my neck," he laughed a bit.

"Yeah, you kinda get used to it," Jack started laughing too, with real happines this time, and relief, Yusei had forgiven him, he felt like a million bucks! "And the others?" he questionned.

The new king looked thoughtfull for a second, then smiled "They'll get over it eventually, I'm sure," Jack sighed in relief again,

"So can we call a truce?" he asked after yet another pause. Yusei looked back at him, his eyes were soft and his tone warm.

"Jack, I told you, you're forgiven, I didn't just come here to check on you, I wanted to see if you'd come back to your senses, so I could have my best friend back," he was smiling, in one of those rare times where he showed more emotion than usual.

Jack smiled "Well you found him, I guess all I needed was a little whack to get me thinking straight," he paused then added "Thanks Yusei,"

"Hey, that's what are friends for,"

"I know that now," Jack chuckled, and Yusei laughed a bit too, and they stayed like that laughing, catching up, it was almost as if nothing had happend at all between them,

they both prefered it that way...

...PRESENT DAY...

And so that leads us back to where we left off, Jack had moved into tops after beng released from the hospital, into a moderately sized apartement on the far west side of the twins floor (with all the room those two had, they had no problem with sharing), even more recently though, Jack had finnaly put his act together and had begun a romatic relationship with Mina, finnaly sorting out those weird emotions he got from her. She had happily moved in with him aswell. And, thanks to Yusei, both of them were accepted into the group with open arms.

(But now, back to where we left off....)

"You're thinking about _her_ again aren't you?" Jack questionned, he had known, for quite some time now, who his best friend had been drifting into deep thought about for quite some time now. Infact, everyone had noticed!

"I can't stop thinking about her Jack! I know it's unhealthy and I've tried to take my mind off her, but everytime I try she'll just pop in once I let my guard down!!" He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and sat on the bed to calm himself "To make matters worse, my dragon mark has been burning a bit," he said looking at his arm to where the dragonhead-shaped birthmark was

"Yeah now that you've mentionned it, my mark _has_ been rather irratating aswell, Luna's been commenting on hers too," Jack said,

"But what does this all mean?"inquired Yusei

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet!?" the former king asked sitting down next to him, "I mean, I can't be sure about the mark thing, but the rest seems pretty clear,"

"What are you getting at?"

"You're in love with her! Isn't it obvious!?" This time it was Yusei's turn to be surprised, he very nearly fell off the bed!

"Jack that's ridiculous!" he said, trying to hide his blush. "How the hell could you come to that conclusion!?"

"You wanna a list?" Jack answered, just a little bit irratated, "Fine. Well for one thing she's quite attractive, hell! I won't deny a part of me was a little mezmerized by her myself! Secondly, shes quite an exellent duelist-"

"Those arent real reasons Jack!"

"I'm getting to that! Ok how about this: Once you fell asleep on the sofa while we were visiting Leo and Luna, at one point you started mumbling in your sleep, kept saying stuff like her name, among other things... "he paused for a minute to see the look of pure horror/embarassment spread across his friends face, it was just one of those nights where Yusei completly forgot about keeping that serious look of his, it was quite amusing to watch. "...you also called her : 'My little rosebud' I almost burst out laughing at that!" even now though, he was starting to chuckle. Yusei however, was not amused.

"That doesn't prove anything!" he snapped an obvious lie and turned away, but he knew, by the way he was acting and from what Jack had told him, that he was indeed in love, with Aki Izayoi.

"How about this then," said Jack, his tone was a little softer now, "You're acting the same way I did when I fell for Mina, I could tell from day one," at this, Yusei finnaly gave in.

"So what do I do now mister expert?" he asked "I cant just look up her number, call and schedule lunch with her," All either of them knew was that Aki had been taken back to the Arcadia Movement's headquarters to 'recover', but if that was the case, surely she'd be back on the streets now? It had been two whole months already!

"No I suppose not, though I think I know where to find her," Jack confessed

"What!?" gasped Yusei, "How? when? Why didn't you bring this up before!?"

"Well," Jack started, "I was actually gonna confront you about this tomorrow, but seeing as we're here now: I overheard some guy in the café, you know, the one where Mina works now. He said while he was walking his dog or something, he saw some people, only, they didn't seem 'on the level' as he put it, they looked like they were harassing some girl, a girl who he soon recognized as the Black-rose witch! He said he turned and ran after that, either frightend off, or he thought that those thugs didn't know what they were in for,"

"But even if those guys were from the Arcadia Movement, how do we know where to find them?" Yusei asked.

"Because he said before he left he followed them to an old abandonned warehouse by the docks, after they went in, he heard a weird noise, like elevator going up and down again, that's when he heard someone coming, and he ran off,"

"And you got that all from easedropping?" Yusei questionned, "You might have misheard him then,"

"I didn't mishear anything!"

"How do you know that?"

"Well," Jack confessed "once he mentionned the Black-rose witch, I sorta joined in the conversation, He apparently was a big fan of mine ,even dethroned, and was more than happy to explain it all," He explained.

Yusei sat back and thought about it. If these men were from the Arcadia Movement, and they were indeed harassing Aki, then that could mean she was in trouble somehow. But how could he know for sure? Whats more, how could he help if she was?

Suddenly, it happend, their birthmarks started to burn, but Yusei seemed to be taking the brunt of it. The pain was so bad, it sent him sprawled onto the floor, writhing in agony. How they managed to keep quite is a miracle. And that was it, the pain became too much, he past out...

****

_...then suddenly he wasn't he wasn't in his apartement anymore, he was walking down a dark corridor in some kind of dungeon. Then, as the images began to clear, he realised he wasn't walking down the hall, he was being dragged by two thugs._

_next thing he knew he was in what seemed to be in what appeared to be a modern torture chamber, machines of pain were everywhere he turned to look -or rather he would- if it wasnt for the fact that his head didn't seem to want to listen to him. He soon found himself strapped to a large iron table with a man who he recognized as Divine. What the hell was he doing here?_

_"Well Aki," said Divine, "Are you ready for another round? Or do you still have these dellusions of departure?" _ _before_ _Yusei could ask him what he was talking about, and why Divine was adressing him as Aki, he felt himself speak._

_"G-go to hell Divine!" he was speaking weakly, and with a voice that wasn't his own. Then it dawned on him: He wasn't Yusei Fudo, not here at least, somehow his dragon mark was allowing him to see what Aki herself saw, heard and felt as she did. And right now it looked like she really _was_ in trouble._

_"Hmph," said Divine, "And I had thought for sure you'd come back to your senses by now. if you keep this up, there won't be much left of you pretty soon," _Won't be much left? I dont like the sound of that!

_Before he could see anymore of the vision though, two men connected a pair of cuffs and a collar to Aki, he felt a surge of pain, and that was it..._

_****_

Yusei didn't wake up until the next morning. For a while, he thought the whole knight had been

just a dream, _Then again,_he thought, _with my luck, a simple explanation like a bad dream will never happen, _At that conclusion, he realized that Aki was indeed in trouble and that she desperatley needed his help, well there was no helping it now, especially after seeing what she was going through. His hands clenched into fists, he reached out and grabbed his deck, Divine was going to pay for this, even though he wasn't completly sorted out with his emotions, he knew that Aki was quite possibly the love of his life, and he would repay any harm done to her 10 fold!

However before he could get to the garage to prepare his duel runner, he ran into Jack, Mina Leo and Luna at the dinner table, waiting for him.

"And just where do you think you're going?"Jack questionned,

"Jack here told us about your talk last night-" Luna started,

"Yeah, and about how you past out after your mark started to burn,"Leo finished,

"Just what is going on here Yusei?" Mina asked

So he told him what he saw in his vision, about how Aki had been being held prisoner for possibly all the two months she went missing, how she was being tortured on a daily/nightly basis, and how if he didn't act now, she was a gonner.

"I think she no doubt had the intention of leaving the Arcadia movement that very day, but for some reason, Divine and the others don't that willing to let her go, and when she persisted...he..." he choked on his own words, he hadn't realised he had started to sob. Mina, seeing this, rushed to his side to comfort him, like a mother would do for her child. Jack and the twins followed soon after.

After a bit, once he calmed down a bit, Jack asked, "You love her more than I thought you did Yusei, it's both heartwarming and a little creepy," the last bit was meant to lighten the mood, and it worked, the two friends both laughed in spite of the moment.

"I can't just sit back and relax guys, I have to save her, I don't know how but I will," Yusei vowed. "Even if she doesn't return my feelings," he admitted.

"Somehow Yusei, I think she does," Mina admitted. " Call it a girl thing, but I have a feeling she loves you too,"

That seemed to brighten Yusei's spirit. There was hope! He just might have a shot at this after

all!

That being said, he actually had to get there first, after some farewells and good lucks, he mounted his duel runner and was off. To where and what, he did not know, but what he did know was that Divine was going to regret ever knowing Aki. And that she would soon find herself in a warm home with people who would be her friends, true friends who would care for her and not turn on her on a whim. Yes, That was the kind of life that she deserved, and he would give it to her!

****

Aki Izayoi had been through pain before. She'd recieved it, emotional and physical, from quite

a number of people, her parents for instance. But that was nothing compared to what she had been recieving recently, by someone who she thought she could trust, her -now former- friend Divine.

When she had first told him she was planning to leave the A.M., he had taken it rather cooly at first, gently trying to coax her out of it. Saying that it was dangerous, and that she would be treated as a criminal, 'Not only that,' he had said, 'Where could you go? noone in the city would take you in.' He had said it a little too smugly, that had angered her a little. She had argued that there was indeed someone who might -not even- would take her in. Someone who, somehow,

she could tell was different from the others. That someone, was Yusei Fudo.

When she persisted however, when it became clear that she would not change her mind, Divine

became agressive. He had shouted, she shouted, they got into a fierce argument, and the next thing she knew, was a strong jolt in the back of her head, and then it all went black.

The next thing she knew was waking up in a cell of some kind, Divine trying again to convince her to stay. Naturelly, she refused , and was thus was introduced to this program of daily torture: Every morning she would be dragged out of her cell and taken at gunpoint to various rooms where she would experiance electric shocks and other forms of torture. By far the worst in her opinion, when he had some other members of the A.M. force her to view the painfull memories from her past. And a few other nightmarish images forced into her mind for further torment.

She had begone to think that there was no hope her, that is until last night. When she'd felt an odd presence, a familier one, what's more it started right after she started thinking (again) of the

current Duel king of Neo-Domino city. She just couldn't stop thinking of him lately. At least, when her mind _could_ spare time to think about him. Like when her body wasn't being exposed to excruciating pain! Ever since that moment, she didn't know how, when or even why but she knew it in her heart that he would come. If she was knew one thing about him, it was that he

never let anyone down regardless of who it was.

Just then, she heard her door open, and wasn't surprised to see Divine and his goons at the opening. No doubt here for yet another day of torture.

"Well, Aki, it seems we've come to this point again. You know what you can do to avoid it obviously," He stated rather smugly. Her answer was spat in his face: "Then you no doubt know

what my answer will be," she hissed. "Go to hell!" it seems Divine lost his patiance with that.

"You stubborn BITCH!" He shouted, emphasizing the last word by a slap. However, despite the pain and the few tears that were subconciously falling on her part, Aki just smirked.

"hmph," she said "After what you put me through on a daily basis, you expect that to hurt!?"

SLAP!!

"Don't push your luck witch!" Divine countered and Aki flinched. If there was one word that could hurt her it would have to be a reference to her title as the Black rose witch.

And so Aki found herself, yet again, being dragged down the famillier route down the hall, and out the prison wing. However, when they rounded the corner which headed to the torture chamber, they were confronted by a famillier face. One that made Aki's face light up. There standing over the knocked out bodies of the guards, stood Yusei.

Divine's goons immediately sprung into action. They both ran at Yusei, one aimed for a punch to his face. The other was tailing him, obviously to provide a little back up should the primary attack fail. But Yusei saw through that. He evaded both attacks easily, and without losing rythm, managed to land a solid punch to the first mans face. Knocking him against the wall. His head made a hollow 'thud' as it hit, he slid to the ground, unconcious. The other went out with slightly similar way. Yusei simply punched him in the gut, and while he was bent and recovering, delivered a knee jab to his face. He then turned to Divine.

"You've really gotta get some better security around here," he said "Getting in through the air ducts should've attracted a bit more attention. And the guards-or lack there of- were child's play,"

"I suppose you have a point Mr. uh, Fudo was it?" said Divine, "In any case, how would you like a position here then, with moves like that, we could use a man like you here at the A.M." he finished.

"Not a chance," Yusei growled. "You may think everyone on earth can be swayed by smooth words and money, but that's not the case with me. I came here for one reason and one reason only: To get Aki Izayoi out of here." Aki herself felt her heart flutter at the words, and she was sure that she had a bit of a blush too. She quickly surpressed them both.

"Aww, how cute," said Divine "And why exactly are you doing this? Surely you don't think that

Aki is a good person? Are you forgetting who she is?"

"I know exactly what she is Divine," Yusei countered. "Misunderstood. I know deep down she's a good person. And I'm getting her out of here to give her the world she deserves!" Again, Aki had to surpress the mysterious feeling in her heart.

"Well," said Divine, "Isn't that noble of you. I'll tell you what then, we duel for her, if you win i'll let her go without a fight, lose and you'll go through the same treatment as her," At that,Aki gasped. No matter what Yusei couldn't go through something like that. The risk was too high.

"Don't do it Yusei!" she shouted "Please! I'm not worth it!" But Yusei ignored her.

"Sounds good" He said. Divine seemed pleased.

"Exellent," He said. "Now if you'll just follow me..."

And so they were off: Yusei, Divine, Aki and the goon holding her at gunpoint. they all walked together in silence, Aki was trying to comprehend why Yusei was doing this for her. Sure she had an inkling tht he would come but she had never gotten around to _why_. Well he had managed to beat her _and_ Jack Atlas, the former king. So maybe he could beat Divine, But still, the way he dueled was a whole other level. And Yusei would have to bring his game up to said level. Or they were both goners.

Soon they reached the main chamber of the warehouse, joined by two more henchmen who were carrying silver suitcases. Divine nodded to both of them and they opened the cases to reveal two duel disks, one of which he handed to Yusei.

"I hope you can hold on to your reputation, Yusei," he said activating his own disk. Yusei doing likewise. Slipping their decks into the disks slot, Lifepoints automaticly setting to 4000 each. They stood on opposite sides of the room, glaring at eachother. While the now free Aki and her

guard watched from the sidelines. Well she was watching, the guard was there to make sure she didn't pull anything funny.

"LET'S DUEL!" They both shouted.

(Lp:Yusei:4000/Divine:4000)

"The first move's mine," said Divine, drawing his a quick look at his hand, he smirked. Aki gulped, _Divine may be arrogant, but he's an expert strategist. He can form a winning strategy after the first draw! And ajust it to the situation at a moments notice! You'd better be carefull Yusei, for both our sakes._

"I'll summon Dr. Cranium (atk:100/def:100)in defence mode," He continued, as a short, purple-skinned man wearing a labcoat and an odd helmet appeared kneeling on the field. It's arms were crossed over it's chest in defence. "Then I'll set 1 card face down, and end it there,"

"My draw," said Yusei. "And I'll play the spell card:Tuning. With this, i can move a Tuner monster from my deck to my hand, as long as I send a number of cards from my deck to the graveyard equal to the level of the monster," He explained as Junk Syncron appeared in his hand "This card is a lv.3, so I guess I have to send three cards to the grave,"

"That's not a very fair trade," Divine chuckled. "I mean, giving up three cards just to get that thing? You're not going to win that way,"

"You shouldn't underestimate the power of any card,"

"And why not?" argued Divine

"Watch and learn, I summon junk syncron (atk:1300/def:500)," said Yusei as one of his best cards appeared. "You see divine, when this little guy is summoned, he lets me bring out a lv.2 or below monster from my graveyard, and im bringing out speed warrior!" He explained as yet another of his best cards appeared. You didn't need to be in the pro league to know what was coming. "Now I tune my lv.3 Junk Syncron with my lv.2 speed warrior!" Already the tuner monster had pulled on the cord of his engine and split into three rings which encircled speed warrior. The whole lot of them then became a pillar of light. All the while Yusei was chanting:

_Clustering of stars create a new force,_

_become the path the light shines upon,_

_syncro-summon!_

_Appear now: Junk Warrior!_ (atk:2300/def:1300)

As he said this, a figure rose from the pillar. Striking a pose in midair, Yusei's signature card floated down infront of him, ready to strike. Divine, however, was not intimidated.

"Now attack his Dr. Cranium! Go scrap fist!" Yusei cried as his warrior lunged at the strange card, and struck it with a massive blow to the head. Shattering it into pieces. But Divine just smirked.

"I've got just one word for your move's Mr. Fudo: Predictable! Reverse card: Open! Anti-syncro*!" Upon saying that, bolts of electricity started to surge in and out of Junk Warrior, like he had just blown a fuse.

"What have you done?!" demanded Yusei upon noticing this.

"That's the power of my trap card," Divine explained. "I can only activate it when one of your syncro monsters destroys a monster on my field, it then destroys it on the spot and inflicts 100 pts. of damage to you equal to that card's level!" And just like that, Yusei's signature card went up in smoke. Some of the flying pieces striking him. (Yusei:3500) But then Yusei felt something else: Pain. Like someone was sqeezing at his heart. It lasted but a second, but he still doubled over from it.

"W-what, was that?" He panted. Aki on the other hand looked horrified.

"Divine, you didn't give him-" she gasped

"I did what I had to do Aki," was his solemn reply. Yusei looked up a bit.

"Just what is going on here?" He asked. Divine then turned his gaze toward him, his face smug.

"It seems I forgot to mention one little detail," he confessed "Your duel disk is wired with a special device. One that will send mini-shockwaves throughout your body whenever you take life point damage. It's essentially harmless in small amounts, but the intesity will increase the lower your lifepoints get. And continued expossure can cause cardiac arrest," Yusei's eyes widend in shock! This was going to complicate things.

"Don't feel too bad," said Divine when he noticed both Yusei's and Aki's expressions. "There's still a chance you could win this. Of course, that little timbit might add to the pressure. Now then my trap has another effect, you get to summon one non-tuner monster that you used for the syncro summon in defence mode,"

"Fine then," said Yusei "Speed warrior, you're up (atk:900/def:400)," As his warrior appeared ,

he looked at his hand. "I'll end my turn with a face down,"

"My draw," said Divine. "Now the special ability of my Dr. cranium activates. You see when its

destroyed, I can pay 800 life points. to bring a psychic monster from my deck to my hand," (Divine:3200) "Next I'll play the spell card: teleportation! Now since you have a monster out and I don't, I can special-summon any psychic monster from my hand." he explained. "And I think I'll bring out the card you helped me get: Mind protector (atk:0/def:2200) in defence mode!" As he said that, a small yellow robot like creature with giant hands appeared on his side of the field. "Not to add to the pressure or anything, but mind protecter stops all non psychic monster's attacks that are below 2000, and your decks full of 'em!"

Yusei growled in frustration._These psychic monster's abilities are practicly pushing me into a corner! _He thought.

"And I've just gotten started, Yusei!" Divine called, surprising him.

"How did...wait, can you-?"

"Read minds?" Divine cut him off. "Yes, I can. Like Aki over there, I too have powers that caused me to be abandonned by society. I was forgotten by everyone, my friends my mother, my father, the list goes on..." Yusei listened as Divine told his tale, he could see now, how Aki could've come to trust this man. They both were outcasts who could sympathize with the others pain. Especially when they both had almost the same reason behind their ostrasism.

"I lived on the streets for a time," Divine continued. "Eventually, I found others. People who, like me, were shunned for their abilities. With their help, I was able to found an organization:-"

"The Arcadia Movement." Yusei finished,

"Precisely, and now after all these years, we can finnaly accomplish our ultimate goal:the destruction of Neo-domino city, and everyone who has mistreated us!" At this, both Yusei and Aki's eyes relfected the same look of horror.

"B-but Divine, that can't be,"Aki exclaimed. "When I joined the movement, you told me that it's purpose was to unite those gifted and those that were not, so noone would have to go through what we did," she stated.

"And would you have joined if I said otherwise?" was his only reply. Aki's expression soon changed, from frightened surprise, to utter shock and fury.

"You never even saw me as a friend, did you? I was just a pawn, a tool that you needed for your

sick, twisted revenge scheme," She hissed. The anger in her eyes that was quite evident, now even more so by her tone. But Divine just laughed.

"Aww, give her a brownie, her brain cell finnaly kicked in!"He mocked. A wave of laughter resonating throughout the chamber alerted Yusei and Aki to their apparent audiance. The duel had apparently attracted a bit of attention. All Aki saw though were more faces to yell at. She was about to go and give them all a piece of her mind, but a voice stopped her.

"Ignore them, Aki," Yusei called to her. She turned to him

"But-"

"But nothing! We can't afford your anger to ruin everything!" He stated calmly. She realized that he was right. The last thing anyone needed was black rose dragon blowing this whole place sky high. She took a step back, but then suddenly realized how easily Yusei had managed to restrain her. It was wierd, but somehow his voice came in clearly through the fog of her anger.

"Now lets continue where we left off shall we?" said Divine. "I summon psychic snail (atk:1900/def:1200) in attack mode," As a giant blue snail appeared on the field, Divine continued: "Now comes his special ability: I give up 800 life points, and a psychic monster on my field can attack twice this round," (Divine:2400) "Now attack his Speed warrior with shell shocker!!"

The snail rolled itself into it's shell and charged itself with electricity. It then went straight at Yusei, plowing through his speed warrior and giving him a wicked punch in the gut. (Yusei: 1600) He braced himself a second too late as the shockwaves from his duel disk echoed through his body. He collapsed onto his knees, and Divine just smirked while Aki cried out to him.

"Look at you," said Divine "Grovelling on the floor like a peasant before a king," he gloated but then he froze. Apparently Yusei had thought of something that surprised him a bit. "You're- ...and with her!" He paused for a second then, burst into mocking laughter! "Of course! How could I not see it?!AHAHAHHAA!!!"

Aki was puzzled. Just what could be so funny? "What exactly did he see?"She asked as she turned to Yusei, who was standing up, but also noticed that he was smirking. _Now or Never _He thought.

"Well Aki, sometimes people do stupid things when their in love,"She gasped as he turned to face her. His blue eyes were warm and sincere, but he had the decensy to blush a bit. "Ever since the fortune cup, I couldn't stop thinking about you: your skills, your looks, and your eyes.

Those eyes, though filled with anger, were quite definately the most beautiful I've ever seen," Aki listend to every word he said, her mind struggelling to process everything. When she did

it was all to clear: the confidence he would come, the control over her emotions that he had, she loved him too.

"You don't have to be alone anymore Aki," He continued. "After all this, I'm taking you to my home, with my friends. You can finnaly have the life that you deserve,"

"That is," interupted Divine, "if you can beat me. But she won't be alone anyway because after this duel, you can join her in her misery," He declared. "I'm ending my turn, so mind protector's effect drains me of 500 life points," (Divine:1900)

"My move!" said Yusei as he drew his card. "I play shield warrior in defence mode..." (atk:800/def:1600) "...and end my turn,"

"So much for dramatic," said Divine. "My draw...I'll summon out another mind protector in attack mode!"

"Attack mode?" exlaimed Yusei. _Why would he do that? That things got no attack points! _"What're you planning?" He demanded.

"You'll see in a moment. Now I'll play: double summon! So now can bring out another monster:and I'll bring out the tuner monster: krebons!" As a jester-like creature appeared on the

field, Yusei gasped. _A tuner!? This can't be good!_

"Now I tune my lv. 2 krebons with my lv.3 mind protector, to syncro summon: Magical android!" And so the two monsters disapeared. Leaving in their place a sorceress with long red hair. She wore white, futuristic armor, complete with a sword and shield.

"I'm not done yet," declared Divine. I play the spell, Lightwave tuning! So now I select one light-attribute monster on my field, and it becomes a tuner monster until the end of the turn. So I'll use it on my second mind protector...and tune it to my Magical android to summon: Thought Ruler Archfiend!! (atk:2700/def:2300)" Once again the monsters on Divine's field dissapeared, only to be replaced by a giant winged demon, with long sharp claws and a skull like face. Aki recognized it as Divine's ace, the card that he only brought out on special occasions.

"Hey, Yusei," Divine called, sneering at the look of fear on his opponents face. "You were thinking before that you would protect Aki over there from her pain. Well, now let's see if you can after all! Especially after I play the Stop defence spell card to force your monster out of hiding!"

_No! Now I can't protect myself!_ Yusei thought in horror as a beam of light coming from the spell image struck shield warrior, forcing it to stand upright.

"Now my archefiend, attack!" called Divine as his beast swept toward shield warrior, grabbing it's head with one his claws. There was a sickening crunch as it blew into pieces, knocking Yusei's life points to a mere 100, and the shockwaves knocking him flat on the floor.

"Yusei!" cried Aki as she him fall.

"eheeahhahha! Give it up Yusei you'll never defeat me now!" exclaimed Divine. But to his surprise, Yusei started to rise.

"You can't possibly still be thinking of continuing the match!" he exclaimed, but sure enough, one quick scan of his mind proved that he was.

"100 lifepoints are still life points, Divine!" he said. "I've never quit a duel before! You read my thoughts yourself, so you know that when it comes to Aki, I'd gladly put my life on the line!" Aki didn't even bother to surpress her emotions this time. She barely knew him, but his feelings were already this strong! And she couldn't deny that she wouldn't do the same for him.

"Yusei," she whispered, "thank you,"

"Alright then, your funeral. Now due to the effect of my archefiend, your warrior's attack point are added to my life points," (Divine:2700) "Your move,"

"This is my last draw," said Yusei. "Here goes..." He drew his card, and smiled. "This duel _is_ over, Divine..." he declared. "...for you!" Divine himself visibly flinched "Now since I have no monsters out, I can special summon a normaly lv.3 Level Warrior as a lv.4, (atk:300/def:400)"

"What good is that thing? Sure, it's level changed but with only 300 attack points-"

"You're underestimating my cards again," Yusei cut him off. "You'll see that's a grave mistake. Especially now that I play hyper syncron (atk:1600/def:400)!" A little blue machine appeared, and now Divine started to tremble.

"I tune my hyper syncron with my level warrior," Just like before, both monsters leapt into the air, Hyper syncron becoming four rings of light that encircled level warrior, becoming a giant pillar of light, and Yusei reciting his chant:

_Clustering of hopes become a new shining star,_

_Become the path it's light shine upon,_

_Syncro-summon!_

_Take flight, Stardust Dragon! _(atk:2500/def:2000)

Even the members of the Arcadia movement, Divine included, had to admit that this was quite a sight. Yusei's most powerful monster, nearly filling the whole chamber, staring down at them with an intent to kill. But, Divine just smirked. "You may have brought out your best monster, Yusei, but it's still too weak,"

"There's that arrogance of yours again! Any beginner duelist knows: Attack points aren't everything!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I still have this:" Yusei explained, finnaly revealing his face-down. "I activate the trap: Ultimate Syncro strike*! It may cost me half my life points (Yusei:50), but it's well worth the price. Because when this card is activated, if a sycro monster on my field attacks one on yours, not only is it's attack points reduced to zero, but every last one of them gets trasfered to my Stardust Dragon!" (SDD:5200/TRA:0000)

"THEY WHAT???" Divine all but shrieked in terror.

"Yusei did it!" Aki exclaimed.

"Now, Stardust, attack his archefiend now and end this," The great beast obeyed in an instant, raising it's head and charging an enormous energy sphere. "GO! COSMIC SUPER NOVA!!"

the blast, though only lasting a few moments before it struck, looked both destructive, and beautiful. It struck thought-ruler archefiend squarelly in the chest, blowing it to pieces in an instant. It then continued it's path until it struck the floor, directly where Divine was standing.

(Divine:0)

When the smoke cleared, when Divines unconcious form was revealed with Yusei standing over him in triumph, the rest of the Arcadia movement made a mad dash for the nearest exit. It would seem all of them were with Divine for their own convinience, not his.

Yusei was so exhausted from that little adventure he hardly noticed a lone figure run up to him and wrap her arms around him in a death hug. He had enough strength to return the embrace though. That is, until they both realized their current position and let go. After a few awkward moments Aki spoke up:

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, don't worry. I'm just tired," He assured her. A couple more moments past, and Aki broke the silence again.

"Yusei," she began, then took a deep breath and continued. "What you said to Divine, about how you...felt about me," she looked into his eyes, and felt herself relax under their gaze. "Did you mean it?" Yusei sighed, it seemed like _this _was the now or never moment. He offered, what he hoped, was his most charming smile.

"I meant every word, Aki," He finnaly said. Again, there was silence, he sighed again. "I understand if you don't feel the same about-" he got cut off, not by words, but lips! Aki was kissing him! It started quite gentle, but it had already sparked something within them both. They wrapped there arms around each other to deepen it, only stopping when they needed air.

"Aki does this mean-" But she put a finger to his lips. She still nodded though, and that was enough. Now reassured that the girl of his dreams returned his feelings, he straightend himself up. "Let's go home," he said.

"Home?" Aki questionned.

"I told you didn't I? I'm not just gonna leave you after all this, especially now!" Yusei pointed out. Aki blushed, and he did a bit too.

"Well then it's settled," he stated matter-of-factly. Then, taking her hand in his, they headed towards the door.

"Shouldn't we-" Aki started.

"Don't worry about him"Yusei assured her. "I'm sure Jack can arrange something with sector security,"

"Jack? As in Jack Atlas?"

"The very same, him, his girlfriend, the twins, we all live in Tops," He was beaming now, and

they had just exited the warehouse. "And you, my dear, are on your way to join us," Again,

Aki blushed. It was funny, less than a week ago she would never have pictured herself like this.

But then again, we can never predict life now can we?

As they left, Aki realised that Yusei hadn't parked his duel runner right next-door. He had infact

left it in a hidden alley way, safe from any punks who might want to take it. Upon reaching it, he sighed.

"I'm afraid this thing wasn't meant for two," he admitted

"That's ok, I think I can fit," Aki replied with a seductive tone. even though it was little past midnight, she could see him turn four shades of red. Oh! Payback was fun, sure she may not

have minded his influence over her emotions, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun herself.

The rest of the trip back was a delibrately slow ride on Yusei's duel-runner. They were taking it slow, so they could talk more to know eachother better, it was eesential in a relationship after

all. But eventually, they arrived at the garage. Yusei didn't want to wake anyone so they didn't take the direct path from inside, instead walking through the front entrance and walking up the stairs. A slower path, but they didn't due time, they reached the apartement.

"Well, here we are," said Yusei. "Welcome to my humble abode, and your new home,"

Aki was already stepping in and looking around though. Overall, it wasn't half bad. Not too big or to small, a cozy-looking living room and a reasonably-sized bed. Then the full impact of

what Yusei just said, and once again a wave of diiferent emotions washed over her. She put her

hand to her chest and sighed happily.

"My home," she said breathlessly. Loving the way the word felt playing across her lips. Something then caught her eye on the bed. "What's that?" she asked. Yusei walked up from

behind her, and looked where she was pointing: Nessled on the bed was what seemed to be a package of sorts, On it was a letter. He unfolded it and read from it aloud:

_Dear Yusei, _

_I don't know how, but me and Luna both felt it when you won,_

_Mina said something about Aki might needing a change of clothes, so she had me drop these in your room._

_Tell her we all wish her welcome, and congradulations to you both,_

_Yours truly, _

_Jack Atlas_

"Well that was sure nice of them," said Yusei, "Are you ok, Aki?" he asked, concerned. Aki was confused for a minute, but then she realized that she was crying! She hastily wiped the tears from her face.

"Y-yeah, it's just, I'd forgotten what it was like: to have friends and all. I never thought I'd ever

have people like this in my life," She explained, wiping off the tears. Yusei put an arm around her, and squeezed reassuringly.

"Well like I said: You'll never be alone again. Not so long as I'm standing," he declared. She smiled and returned his embrace.

"Now then," said Yusei after a moment. "Would you like a few minutes to get into these?" he held the package up to her, revealing them to be some PJ's.

"I would, thank you,"

Yusei excused himself from the room to give Aki her privacy, closing the door on the way out.

He knew of coarse that it wasn't totally necessary, he also thought Aki felt the same. But they both knew that if they were really gonna commit to a relationship, they were gonna have to do it right and take it slow. He had just finished putting his jacket on the coat hangar when he heard her again.

"Ok! You come in now," she informed him. Well that had been fast. He immediately hurried back to his room and opened the door, and was greeted by what he thought was the most

adorable sight he'd ever seen: Aki was wearing a light-blue sweat shirt, darker on the right sleeve, with a big blue heart on the chest. The pants were plain blue with a slightly darker shade on the left leg.

"Blue's not my color, but it will do for now," she said simply, ignoring his staring. He eventually regained enough of his composure to ask her if she needed anything else. When she said no, he said he would would be sleeping right in the living room if she needed him.

"Yusei," she called to him as he turned. "I do have one request," he turned back to her immediately.

"And what may that be?" he inquiered, noting that she looked a little nervous about whatever she was about to ask.

"Well, " She hesitated. "I-I want you to sleep in the bed with me," she finally let out. That caught him off guard.

"B-but, Aki..." he replied, completely flustered.

"I know Yusei, but..." she paused, looking for the right words. "I know we've just started this relationship, but I want this. And I know part of you wants it too," she explained. Yusei was certainly taken aback. She already trusted him this much? He sighed, how could he refuse with

the look she was giving him. He walked to the bed and got under the covers, then tapped the

side of the bed next to him.

"Ok Aki, if your sure," he said. Aki felt herself nearly squeal happily, but caught herself. However, she couldn't help walking a little too quickly to her side of the bed. Once she was under the covers, she snuggled into his chest. After a momentary pause he wrapped his arms around her. She took a deep whif of his smell, decided she liked it, and looked up.

"Goodnight Yusei, I..." she paused for a moment, then smiled. "I love you," she finnaly said.

Yusei thought he would faint, those words were almost too good to be true! He looked back down at her with an expression of pure happiness.

"I love you too," He brought her face to his own for a brief kiss, and then they fell asleep in eachothers arms. What adventures daybreak brought, they did not know. But for now, they knew that this was probably the happiest they'd been in a long time, and weren't gonna let negative thoughts of their future ruin it...

The end...

**(A\N): there you go. I know, its a little long for a oneshot. I'll try to work on knoing when to stop next time to take a break. The card names with * over them are fake, and I also**

**might have made a few errors with some other card-effects.**

**Hope you all enjoyed:)**


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